Ashok Zaman explores the gap between the masks we wear in different contexts and who we actually are underneath. When roles collapse, like a police officer retiring, people often face an identity crisis: who am I without the job? Honest self-reflection reveals what was hidden beneath the performance.
Chapters
So I just wanted to jump in on this dichotomy between the false self and the true self. And with what the others have shared so far, this false self can be like the roles we play in different situations. And it's like, you know, the role that you play with your family with your partner and the role that you play at work can be very, very different. And I think all of us can notice a kind of shift when we go from one to the other or a conflict when they get mixed up. When you get people from work and people from your family together and they know you in different contexts. And then there's this sort of contrast, this feeling of who am I if I can't play the professional character that I am at work in its entirety or the person that I am with my mom and dad. And you often notice this with people, say, who have played a very strong role all their life. Like they really, really identify with their profession. Like let's just say a policeman, something like this. And then they retire and they no longer have that role to define who they are. And it's a bit like, well, who am I actually without any of these roles? If all those roles were to be taken away, what's left? And that sort of throws you back onto something more truthful and genuine inside, even if it's in the beginning an unknown quantity. You can't really say anything definite about what that might be or who that might be. And I think a lot of it is about, as Misty was saying, being very honest with all the things that come up when those roles, those masks, are removed and all these different things that have been hiding behind those roles start to show themselves.
